Life is a game of chess, and God is the undefeated – and unbeatable – Grand Master.

That was the gist of a talk presented by Taya Kyle, widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle and author of “American Wife,” at the Alliance for Women & Children Fall Luncheon Thursday at the Abilene Convention Center.

She came across the chess analogy while talking to her son, a chess player. He replied, “Mom, that’s perfect.”

“If you just trust that this is a big chess game and God is so far ahead of us, it will be OK,” Kyle said.

Kyle confessed she didn’t always feel comfortable with the idea of God. She stopped going to church during middle school, but never totally shook the feeling that God was in control.

As a young adult she tried making her own way, only to find that it wasn’t working. She moved to California and thought she was free. But it still wasn’t right, she said.

“I finally said, 'God, I get it, but I don’t know what you want. You choose,'” she said.

She recalled being either in a church or a bar – “I was drinking scotch, so it was probably a bar” – when she first saw Chris Kyle. She said he wasn’t a hero or a legend at that time, just a hot guy in a bar.

Being a military wife was the furthest thing from her mind. Why would anyone want that life, she wondered; it’s so hard.

“But then you fall in love, and it all makes sense,” she said.

Her anxiety grew as he, a Navy SEAL, began going on dangerous missions. It grew when SEALs began being killed.

Her nightmare came true in 2013 when her husband and a friend were killed — not on an overseas mission but in Erath County — by a veteran they were attempting to help. Through the grief and a crush of lawsuits, writing her best-selling book and life in general, she said, she sometimes felt she couldn’t continue. But then something happened.

“I started to see a different kind of faith,” she said. “People show up for each other, much like the Alliance for Women & Children is doing for you.”

The outpouring of love was so intense, she said, she began to think it was all a part of God’s plan – until another widow responded by saying “Absolutely not." Evil is a real part of the world, Kyle said, but it’s all just more moves in the big chess game.

That attitude allowed her to forgive her husband’s killer and pray that he finds his way into heaven.

“Forgiveness is choosing not to carry it with you,” she said. “At the end of the day, I have to ask, who am I?

"Life is a big chess game, and the only thing we’re supposed to do is stay on Team God.”

Kyle told how her perception of living a Christian life has changed over the years.

“I thought it was having to follow a bunch of rules. But actually it’s a recipe for happiness. My dad said that, and I’ve found it to be very true.”

Her final comments encouraged others to spend less time worrying about the bad things in life and concentrate on seeing the happiness.

“Good does win out, and if you look for it, it’s overwhelmingly there.”